384 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Juke 



and apiarian supplies. Mr. Wood stated that the 

 one-piece sections are the popular section; that 

 noui-lj- ;.ll other styles are going out of use fast; 

 that the size of box varies much in different local- 

 ities, but are coming- down fast to the sizes, 4^4x414, 

 !i\ix5}i, and 51/2x5^2. Mr. Wood stated that two-thirds 

 of all the boxes made were 4J4x4U, and that a large 

 majority of the 4J4x4^4 were made I'i inches deep, 

 and that they were making- them that size and 

 depth for their own hives, unless otherwise ordered. 



THE SWARMING -OUT MANIA. 



Two swarms of my bees are missing, and the cause 

 I can not understand. They were last-year's swarms. 

 The comb was very nice and clean, and last week 

 they appeared to be as strong hives as I had. On 

 Saturday I looked at them, and found them all gone. 

 I examined them, and found the comb all nice and 

 clean, and a good stock of brood in all stages, from 

 the egg to nearly hatching-, and a good supply of 

 honey, nice and clean, and no dead bees to be seen 

 at the bottom of the hive, or at the entrance. Every 

 comb was in its place, and no robbers to be seen, 

 but not a bee left, dead or alive, in the hive, except 

 a few just hatched, or hatching. I never had such 

 a thing- happen me before. Are such freaks com- 

 mon? and what is the cause? Please give me your 

 opinion. W. H. Shedd. 



Watseka, 111., Apr. 22, 1884. 



Friend S., such cases as this are not very 

 common, altliongli they do occasionally hap- 

 pen in spring. It seems to be a sort of craze 

 that gets into an apiary or neighborliood. 

 for at times it will seem to be quite frequent, 

 and then again no more will be heard of it 

 for years. It is a little unusual to have every 

 bee missing, as in your case, and it seems 

 hard to imagine what should possess them 

 to leave honey, pollen, and brood, and every 

 thing that bees are supposed to ordinarily 

 consider most dear. I do not know what to 

 advise unless it is to give the combs to other 

 colonies, or put some more bees on them, if 

 the bees could be had. 



HONEY FROM CLOVER - LE.4.VES. 



I hi^e read in Gleanings of bees working or 

 gathering honey from wheat stubble, but nothing- 

 about gathering- honey from clover -leaves. Last 

 fall, after fi-ost had killed nearly every thing, as we 

 were walking- through the wheat stubble we heard 

 the hum of bees all around; wo stopped and looked, 

 and found bees on the clover-leaves, all over the 

 wheat-stubble field. We picked, and examined 

 quite a number of clover-leaves, and on some of the 

 leaves we found a very few parasites, and saw a 

 little dew on those leaves having the parasites, which 

 we tasted, and the dew was very sweet and nice ; 

 but the leaves that had no parasites on, we could 

 not see any dew, or taste any sweet. 



Mears, Mich., March 34, 1884. L. W. Davis. 



DOES bee-keeping PAY? 



Now, I do not mean to say I have made money at 

 it, but I have secured honey for my own family, 

 and enoug-h to sell to pay expenses. Of course, we 

 have our bad seasons, like the past, when bees did 

 not do much; but, of course, what we did get was 

 worth the more. I claim, that the time spent with 

 a few colonies of bees on a farm is not wasted. I 

 buy my sections, and make hives and frames to hold 



them, at odd times, and during bad and stormy 

 weather. I keep from 12 to 20 colonies, as the case 

 may be. Of course, I don't have so much work 

 with them as a person up north would. I don't 

 have to lug- them In and out of the cellar, or bank 

 them up with snow or sawdust. When a swarm 

 comes I hive it and set it in the shade of a tree, and 

 that is all the attention it gets from me, except to 

 take the surplus honey, if there should be any, as I 

 never disturb the brood-chamber, unless I see signs 

 of worms. If a swarm should be so unthrifty as not 

 to store enough for themselves, why, I never feed 

 them. I go on the principle of the survival of the 

 fittest. Geo. W. Sarver. 



Taylor, Williamson Co., Texas, Feb. 17, 1884. 



an important fact in reg.4lRD to sound tel- 

 ephones. 



Can a person take an enunciator with say 10 or 13 

 feet of wire, and attach it to a telephone wire and 

 transmit to either end of telephone? I have no ex- 

 tra one to try with, but I have found that one can 

 get a message anywhere on the line by taking hold 

 ofthewii-e with the teeth, but, of course, can not 

 return an answer. Suppose the wire crossed over 

 some place where you were at work, and you want- 

 ed something at one end of the line, if you could 

 attach an enunciator to the wire, and could send a 

 message as well as receive one, how convenient it 

 often would be! Mrs. H. 



Los Alamos, Cal., May 6. 



My friend, I have never tried the experi- 

 ment just as you state it, although we have 

 liied something quite similar. Three enun- 

 ciators can be put up in the form of a tri- 

 angle, with one at each angle ; and I pre- 

 sume if an angle were made in the wire, the 

 enunciator would work all right sending the 

 message both ways. Your idea is a new one, 

 and it seems to nie might be quite important, 

 that by holding the wire in your teeth you 

 can get the message. There has been much 

 difficulty in working telephones in noisy 

 rooms ; for instance, they are worth nothing 

 in a mill or factory. Now, perhaps by taking 

 the wire in the teeth, or something expressly 

 arranged for the purpose, one could hear the 

 message where the noise would drown it oth- 

 erwise. 



TO take bee -glue from the hands. 



Wet and soap your hands as if you were going- to 

 wash them in the common way; then pour V4 tea- 

 spoonful of aqua ammonia (spirits of hartshoi-n) in 

 the palm of your hand, then rub over the hands, and 

 it is gone. C. Kendig. 



Naperville, 111. 



I have long been aware, friend K., that 

 ammonia would dissolve bee-glue. So, in 

 fact, will any alkali. But ammonia does it 

 quickest, because it is such an active agent; 

 and if used a great deal it is apt to make the 

 hands sore unless you are careful to have 

 plenty of water with it. We have large bot- 

 tles of it on our ten-cent counter, and our 

 hands here in the factory are in the habit of 

 using it considerably where they have any 

 work in hand that requires something that 

 will make the soap " take hold." Benzine, 

 also, will remove propolis ; but it has an un- 

 pleasant smell, and does not leave the hand 

 feeling as nicely as when a little ammonia is 

 used with soap and water. 



